The CarMax 600hp Club – 19 Hot Rod Unicorns

The Trump administration and the Iranians are circling once again and oil prices are skyrocketing – what better time to pick up a bargain 600 hp unicorn before they become extinct!  And CarMax has 19 of these high-horsepower bad boys on lots nationwide.  Almost all of them are General Motors products, with one Audi and one BMW from our (for now) European ally, the Germans.  Been watching, and (surprise) no Hellcats have made it to CarMax, and Ford isn’t making a Mustang that bucks 600.  So here’s what we have today (CarMax listings at the bottom).

The lone BMW M760 is a beautiful, big sedan that squeaks in at 601hp from a 6.6 liter twin-turbo V-12.  This is the motor Rolls Royce uses in the Ghost and Wraith, I’ve learned.  If you’ve been here before, you know I have a thing for V-12’s.  (Check out my S600 with a measley 510hp here.)

This 2017 BMW M760 has only 14,000 miles, and is loaded with AWD, auto cruise control, and a business class backseat – at 206″ long it’s almost business jet sized – and tops the price list today at $97,998.  According to this Motor Trend reveiw the M760 once sold for maybe $170,000.  It’s a one-owner car still under dealer warranty (buy the MaxCare anyway!) here in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  If the link is dead the car is sold, on hold, or being transferred. 

Next on my list is a 2017 Audi S8 that surprised me – Audi “S” cars usually have a little less oomph than their BMW “M” counterparts, but this sleeper pumps out 605hp from an itty-bitty 4.0 liter twin turbo V-8 – good for 3.3 second 0-60mph times.  I had no idea.  Check out this Car and Driver review. 

This car has pretty much all the same equipment as the M760 and is just as fast, but is selling for $72,998 – a whopping $25,000 less!   Must be the V-12?  And to think the car sold upwards of $120,000 new just two years ago.   As with the BMW, it’s still under dealer warranty, but not for long.  Find it here in Kansas City, Kansas. 

But maybe you don’t want a gigantic sedan and would rather turn smartly and nimbly with your 600+ horsepower?  Chevrolet has the thing for you with Corvette Z06’s and Camaro ZL1’s galore – 16 of them all together as of today.  And the general’s cars come in automatic and manual transmissions – six speeds in the Camaros and seven speeds in the Corvettes.  All are powered by 6.2 liter supercharged V-8’s.

The cheapest Corvette Z06 is the 2015 above, at $56,998 and with 33,000 miles.  It’s here in Columbia, South Carolina.  CarMax has five more 2015-2017 Z06’s nationwide (nobody parting with 2018’s?) with as few as 9,000 miles on them, priced up to $68,998.  This Road and Track review suggests the Corvettes are no faster to 60 mph than the Audi and the BMW above, but puts both away in handling and braking.  The odd thing is that used Corvettes aren’t that much of a bargain over new – the 2017 Z06 listed for under $80,000! 

I cannot own a Corvette.  I love them and I’ve watched around the clock as they raced at Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona, but I can’t own one.  At six feet four inches, I don’t fit.  With no back seat there’s no reclining and tilting of the seats to get comfortable.  The Camaro is a different story.  I’ve rented a number of Camaro SS models and liked them a lot, especially as bargains.

The 2016 and newer Camaro ZL1, though, is on par with the Corvette for amateurs like me with the same power plant and almost the same handling – albeit with one less gear in the manual transmisson.   That said, this Car and Driver review went nuts over the ZL1’s 10-speed automatic transmission.   The ZL1 above is a 2017 in Los Angeles for $53,998 and only 15,000 miles.  CarMax has nine more priced up to $59,998 – almost all with six-speed manual transmissions.  The cars sold for less than $70,000 new, and while they will never match a Corvette in performance or style, they come close enough for those of us who need a back seat.

The “bargain” 600hp car on the CarMax lots today though is this 2016 Cadillac CTS-V. With the same 6.2 liter supercharged V-8 as the Corvette and Camaro, although with 10 fewer ponies, per Car and Driver it comes within a tenth of a second to 60mph – and costs half the price of the BMW M760 (and at $49,998 the CTS-V is just over half its new car price!).

The car is also a good 10 inches shorter than the BMW.  If neither the Corvette nor the Camaro fit your family or business profile, the CTS-V is fire breathing sedan at a bargain price.  Granted, somebody drove far and wide in this one, putting 64,000 miles on the car in just under three years, but toss in MaxCare and you’ll get another 100,000 miles worry free.  Find it here in Tampa, Florida.

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